Editorial: New Jersey needs a major annual investment in higher education

Tim Hawk/Gloucester County TimesSenate President Steve Sweeney (right) smiles as Gov. Chris Christie discusses the higher education restructuring bill that he signed at Rutgers-Camden, Wednesday, August 22, 2012.

The Great Recession proved that a college degree is the ticket to financial success — or even merely survival.

Consider this: Workers with some college education lost 1.8 million jobs during the recession and, even with a slow recovery, have regained 1.6 million of those. At the same time, workers with no better than a high school diploma lost 5.6 million jobs during the recession — and they’re still losing them.

Four of every five jobs lost to the recession were held by workers with a high school education or less. This underscores grave problems:

First, that this is the wrong time to underfund higher education. President Obama sees that. Campaigning on campuses last week, he reminded voters he increased Pell grants while his opponent lacks a clear plan.

Mitt Romney, on the other hand, says federal aid encourages tuition hikes and believes there should be fewer grants, not more. His running mate authored the GOP budget plan that calls for across-the-board education cuts — including tighter eligibility for student aid.

It also amplifies the urgency to fix funding for higher education in New Jersey.

Last week, Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill merging parts of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey with Rutgers University, and elevating Rowan University to a research university. That’s a constructive step. So is a proposed $750 million bond issue, going to voters in November, for improvements on New Jersey’s public and private campuses. The schools need more, but this limited relief is the first since 1988.

But what’s needed, if New Jersey is serious about reforming its approach to higher education, is a major annual investment for both capital improvements and operating costs — a plan that will increase the capacity of the state’s public colleges while keeping tuition affordable for low- and middle-income students.

For every 100 New Jersey high school grads, only 19 spots are available in the state’s public universities — ranking No. 49 nationwide. Four of every five graduates must either attend private universities, which are far more expensive, or leave New Jersey altogether.

Billions of dollars leave New Jersey every year with students forced to go away to college. That’s costly, not only for the middle class, but for the overall economy, too. It’s also a massive disconnect between how we’re preparing young people for life and what today’s economy demands.

A U.S. high school graduate is no longer guaranteed prosperity. Instead, a diploma alone — without a college education — means lower lifetime earnings and a higher risk of unemployment. The road to the American Dream goes through a college campus.
For most, New Jersey’s higher ed shortcomings mean a college degree comes with massive debt.

For future prosperity, New Jersey must provide the children of low- and middle-class families a path to higher education, as well as the means to attend.